Study links wetland loss to rising flood damage costs across North Carolina
NORTH CAROLINA (WWAY-TV) — A new study released Monday found that decades of wetland loss have significantly increased residential flood insurance claim payments across the United States, including in coastal North Carolina communities.
According to the study, more than 540 acres of wetlands were developed between Masonboro Inlet and Mason Inlet in Wrightsville Beach from 1985 to 2023. Researchers found that the loss of those wetlands corresponded with an estimated $2.2 million increase in flood damages in the town during that period.
Adam Gold, senior manager at the Environmental Defense Fund, said wetlands serve as natural barriers that help protect communities from flooding.
“Wetlands provide really important benefits to people in reducing flood impacts to communities,” Gold said.
Gold described wetlands as “natural sponges” that absorb floodwaters and slow runoff after heavy rainfall. He said the study estimates North Carolina has lost about $59 million in flood-loss reduction value since 1985 because of wetland loss.
That flood-loss reduction value represents damage that wetlands help prevent by absorbing and storing water before it reaches homes and businesses.
Gold said the findings come as policymakers debate wetland protections at both the state and federal levels.
“In North Carolina as a whole, we’re estimating up to about $4 billion worth of flood loss reduction value is potentially vulnerable due to the rollback of federal and state wetlands protections,” he said.
North Carolina currently does not have separate state-level wetland protections. The 2023 North Carolina Farm Act changed the state’s definition of wetlands to align with those protected under the federal Clean Water Act.
Roger Shew, a geography and geology professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, said the study arrives as communities continue to adapt to a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision that narrowed the types of wetlands eligible for federal protection.
“I think it’s timely,” Shew said. “That change in 2023, became a big deal for all of us in considering the loss of our wetlands.”
Researchers noted that wetlands provide benefits beyond flood protection.
“They store carbon, they improve water quality, they host a lot of biodiversity,” Gold said. “So they’re really important natural ecosystems beyond just the benefits that we looked at in this paper.”
